Cargo restraint system with enhanced reinforcement filament content

ABSTRACT

A cargo restraint system with enhanced filament characteristics wherein the restraint system includes laminated load restraining strips with a layer of reinforcement material comprising a plurality of substantially parallel bundles of filaments and wherein the layer of reinforcement contains approximately three hundred twenty four ends of reinforcing material and each end of reinforcement material comprises approximately three hundred and twenty one to four hundred and seventeen filaments of reinforcement material and each filament comprises one or more monofilament strands having a total break strength of approximately twenty four grams.

RELATED PATENTS

This application relates to U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,802 entitled “CargoRestraint System for a Transport Container” issued on Jul. 18, 2000;U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,779 entitled “Cargo Restraint Method for a TransportContainer” issued on May 8, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,337 entitled“Cargo Restraint System” issued on Aug. 19, 2003; U.S. Pat. No.6,896,459 issued on May 24, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,923,609 issued on Aug.2, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 7,018,151 issued on Mar. 28, 2006; U.S. Pat. No.7,066,698 issued on Jun. 27, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,969 issued onNov. 6, 2007; U.S. Pat. No. 7,329,074 issued on Feb. 12, 2008 and UnitedStates Bullock application for patent entitled “Cargo Restraint Methodand System With Enhanced Shear Strength” Ser. No. 12/481,345 filed onJun. 9, 2009 and United States Bullock application for patent entitled“Cargo Restraint System With Enhanced Peel Strength” Ser. No. 12/486,897filed on Jun. 18, 2009. All of the above are of common inventorship asthe subject application. These patents and applications have not beenassigned by the inventor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an improved system for restraining cargoduring transportation. More particularly, this invention relates to anovel lashing for securing and restraining undesired movement of drums,boxes, rigid and flexible containers, palletized or not palletized,within the interior of a container for sea, air, rail or overlandtransport. Moreover this invention relates to a system of enhancedfilament content of reinforcing material with characteristics toefficiently control load shifting during transport.

Most shipments for export, both in the United States and abroad, areplaced within intermodal containers. Intermodal containers are oftenloaded with cargo in containment isolation enclosures such as boxes,fifty five gallon closed head drums, super sacks or plastic reinforcedbags, plastic wrapped bundles, cased goods, metal coils, specialty heavypaper rolls, plastic or metal containers mounted on pallets, and thelike. Although each containment enclosure may be quite heavy andstationary at rest, the mass of a transport load can produceconsiderable momentum force as a result of ship, aircraft, railcar, ortruck changes in motion such as for example by acceleration,deceleration or a change in direction.

Intermodal containers generally have standardized dimensions of twentyor forty feet in length and are fabricated with steel, corrugatedsidewalls which are structurally self-supporting and very rugged.Intermodal containers are usually stacked onto ships for ocean transportand are subjected to wave forces of yaw, pitch, heave, sway, and surge.Each of these forces has the potential to impart substantial damage tocontents within the intermodal container. In this, when a containerchanges direction or speed, unsecured cargo within the container tendsto continue along an existing path until it contacts an interior wall ofthe container. Without some type of restraint and/or cushioning system,cargo tends to build up considerable momentum, independent of thecontainer. The amount of momentum is equal to the mass of a loadmultiplied by its velocity. In the case of large cargo loads, even asmall change in velocity or direction can generate substantial motionforces.

For air travel, although commercial passenger flights avoid airturbulence, in some instances clear air turbulence or even rough weatheris not avoidable. Moreover for cargo transport, per se, when passengersare not involved, air carriers might use the most direct routeregardless of weather conditions.

On overland routes intermodal containers are often “piggybacked” ontorailroad flat cars and/or truck trailers. Rail cars may be made up andcoupled together by a humping process within a switching yard. When arailroad car is rolled into a stationary string of cars, the impactcauses the car couplings to lock together with a jolt. This impact canapply an impact force to cargo within the rail car. Moreover, duringtransport, railway cars are subject to braking forces, run-in andrun-out, coupler impact over grades, rail vibration, dips in the track,and swaying. In a similar manner trucks are subject to stopping andstarting forces, emergency braking, bumps and swaying from uneven roadbeds, centrifugal forces on curves, vibration, etc. all of which tend toshift gravity secured loads within a container.

When cargo contacts the interior walls or doors of a container, theforce necessary to reduce cargo momentum to zero must be absorbed by thegoods and/or the container. Such forces can result in damage to cargo,damage to interior walls or doors of the container, damage to cargopacking, and moreover may create dangerous leaks if the cargo is ahazardous material. Accordingly, it is undesirable to permit cargo togain any momentum independent of a container during transport. This isaccomplished by restraining the cargo within the container so that thecargo and the container are essentially united and operationally reactas one unit during transport.

In order to secure the load during transport and minimize undesiredshifting and damage, load containment enclosures are often secured tothe floor and/or sides of an intermodal container, boxcar or trailerusing specially fabricated wood framing, floor blocking, rubber mats,steel strapping, heavy air bags, etc. All of these previously knownsystems for securement have limitations associated with constructioncost, lack of strength sufficient to secure dense loads, etc. Moreover,although rear doors of a truck trailer may be relied on to at leastpartially secure non-hazardous materials such as food-stuffs, tissue orsoft paper products, furniture, appliances, etc., for hazardousmaterials, and many other types of loads, the rear doors of a containermay not be used to even partially secure a load. In fact, in order tocomply with Department of Transportation and Bureau of Explosivesregulations, hazardous materials are not permitted to come in contactwith or ‘touch” rear container doors during an impact.

In the past, cargo was often stabilized by a method of load-locking withlumber bracing. This system involves strategically placing lumberbetween a load face and rear doors of a container. This, however, can bea costly, time consuming, and generally inefficient means of securing aload. A lumber based bracing and blocking process requires skilledcarpenters and is often outsourced to contractors. Moreover, woodenbarriers can be time consuming to install.

Wood bracing can be somewhat brittle and subject to failure as a resultof an abrupt impact. Further conventional methods of load-blocking withlumber bracing simply can not perform some tasks. For example, the mostefficient means of filling an intermodal container is eighty, fifty-fivegallon drums, double stacked within a twenty-foot long container.However, if eighty barrels are loaded there are only approximately fourinches between the load face and rear doors of a conventional intermodalcontainer. Four inches is not enough space to put sufficient lumber tobrace a load of eighty drums adequately. Consequently, when wood bracingis utilized as a system of restraint, shippers are forced to shipcontainers that are not filled to capacity. This reduces transportefficiency and increases transportation costs. Moreover, some types ofwood, such as conifer woods, are not acceptable to cross internationalboundaries without certification of special fumigation or heat treatmentprocessing.

The Department of Transportation has established a standard to determineif a particular restraint system is capable of adequately securinghazardous cargo. In certain instances, conventional load-locking andlumber bracing has not been structurally rugged enough to receiveapproval to ship hazardous cargo.

Other known means of restraint such as ropes, metal or plastic straps orstands and the like appearing in the past have tended to be expensive,exhibit impaired performance and are often not functionally suitable torestrain desired loads.

In some instances a trailer or boxcar may be used for shipping whereonly a partial load is carried. A partial load might be positionedwithin a central location of a trailer. In this instance it may beimpractical to construct wooden front and rear dunnage sufficient tosecure a load where the front of the trailer is not utilized.Additionally some partial loads are not symmetrically positioned on apallet and securement must therefore accommodate an asymmetric loadsituation.

Improved cargo, flexible lashing, restraint systems and methods, such asdisclosed in the related patents noted in paragraph [0001] above, haveoffered a substantial advance in the field of securement of loads withinintermodal containers and the like. A continuing need exists, however,for securing lading within intermodal containers, air transportcontainers, boxcars, truck trailers, and the like that is functionallyeffective, cost-efficient, labor-efficient, and is concomitantly able tocomply with Department of Transportation and Bureau of Explosivesregulations. In this, a need exists for securement systems that haveenhanced filament efficiency and cost characteristics while limitingundesirable cargo movement within a container.

The limitations suggested in the preceding and/or desirablecharacteristics for advantageous load restraint systems are not intendedto be exhaustive but rather are among many which may tend to reduce theeffectiveness or desirability of cargo restraining systems known in thepast. Other noteworthy problems may also exist; however, those presentedabove should be sufficient to demonstrate that cargo-restraining systemsappearing in the past will admit to worthwhile improvement.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Objects

It is a general object that the subject invention provide a novel systemand method to secure a load within an intermodal container, or the like,which will obviate or minimize problems and concomitantly achieve atleast some of the desired aspects of efficient lading securement withina container.

It is another general object of the invention to judiciously protectcargo from damage during transport and to provide enhanced efficiencysecurement of a load within a container while minimizing shifting of acontainer load.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a securement systemfor an intermodal container, and the like, with enhanced cost efficiencywith respect to securing lading to the sidewalls of an intermodalcontainer, air container, rail car, trailer and the like duringtransport.

It is a related object of the subject invention to optimize the use oflashing filaments with reduced costs while maintaining operationalcharacteristics necessary to secure lading within an intermodalcontainer, and the like.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a flexible loadrestraining strip for use in securing cargo within a transport containersubject to shifting forces during transport. The flexible loadrestraining strip has a first end and a second end and the loadrestraining strip includes a first cover layer of material having afirst side surface and a second side surface extending coextensivelywith the flexible load restraining strip from the first end to thesecond end thereof.

A first layer of adhesive coextensively extends along and coats thesecond side surface of the first cover layer of material of the flexiblestrip from the first end to the second end of the first cover layer ofmaterial. The first layer of adhesive has a first side surface and asecond side surface and the first side surface is in adhesive engagementwith the first cover layer of material.

The flexible load restraining strip further includes a layer ofreinforcement having a first side and a second side and is bound on thefirst side to the second side surface of the first layer of adhesive.The layer of reinforcement comprising a plurality of substantiallyparallel bundles of filaments extending throughout the length of theflexible load restraining strip. The layer of reinforcement containsapproximately three hundred and twenty four (324) ends of reinforcementfilament material and each end of reinforcement material comprisesapproximately three hundred and twenty one (321) to four hundred andseventeen (417) filaments of reinforcement material. Each filament ofreinforcement material comprises one or more monofilament strands havinga combined break strength of the monofilament strand or strands ofapproximately twenty four (24) grams.

A second layer of adhesive having a first side surface and a second sidesurface extends along and partially coats the second side of the layerof reinforcement from the first end of the load restraining strip to aposition less than or approximately equal to five feet from the firstend of the flexible load restraining strip.

Finally, a layer of release material extends coextensively with and isreleasably adhered to the second side surface of the second layer ofadhesive applied to the second side of the layer of reinforcement. Thelayer of release material may be removed from the second layer ofadhesive on site of use and the load restraining strip is operable to bereleasably affixed to a side wall surface of a cargo transport containersuch that the load restraining strip may be used as a flexiblesecurement element to secure cargo within a transport container withenhanced filament efficiency characteristics.

THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description of preferredembodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an aerial view of a schematic container ship at a dock withcranes lifting and loading intermodal containers onto the ship for oceangoing transport;

FIG. 2 is an axonometric view, partially broken away, showing aninterior arrangement of cargo within an intermodal container secured toa flatbed trailer, with a partial load secured within the container;

FIG. 3 is a pictorial view of a dispensing roll of flexible loadrestraining strips operable to be cut into approximately twelve footlengths for use in restraining cargo within an intermodal container andis partially broken away to disclose application of a cargo restrainingstrip to an interior wall surface of an intermodal container positionedon a truck trailer;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a roll of lashing strips in accordancewith the invention, partially broken away, disclosing details of variouslayers of the lashing as pulled from a storage and dispensing roll;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a flexible lashing strip as shown in

FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along section line 6-6 inFIG. 5 and discloses an arrangement of structural layers of lashingmaterial at a first end portion of the flexible cargo restraint lashing;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view of a single end ofreinforcement material in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 7 disclosing analternative end configuration of reinforcement material;

FIG. 9 is a partial cross-sectional schematic view of a single filament,with additional partially depicted surrounding reinforcing strandbundles; and

FIG. 10 is an axonometric view of a plurality of individualmonofilament, fine denier, strands of reinforcing material that make upeach of the filaments of reinforcing material depicted in FIGS. 7-9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Context of the Invention

Referring now particularly to FIG. 1, a schematic illustration depictsan ocean going vessel 10 docked at a port and intermodal containers 12are being loaded onto the ship. Cranes 14 mounted on board the ship oron the dock 16 are shown stacking intermodal containers on top of eachother and the containers are ruggedly secured on the deck of the oceangoing vessel 10. The subject invention may be advantageously used tosecure cargo within the intermodal containers 12 or air transportcontainers, rail cars, truck trailers and the like.

FIG. 2 is an axonometric view, partially broken away, and disclosesanother operating context of the invention. In this view an intermodalor cargo container 20 is shown mounted upon a trailer 22 which isoperably towed by a tractor 24 for land transport. Containers such asthese are also often mounted on railway flat cars either directly or asattached to truck trailers 22.

A partially cut away rear corner portion of FIG. 2 shows use of a cargorestraining strip 30 which is operable to be self-adhered to an interiorwall surface 32 of the intermodal cargo container 20. The cargosecurement system shown in FIG. 2 comprises a pair of opposingrestraining strips 30—self-adhered to opposing side walls of thecontainer 20 by the use of adhesive segments 34 that adhere to opposingportions of the container side walls 32. The restraining strips 30 arewrapped behind a load and embrace the rear face of cargo 36 to besecured such as fifty five gallon drums 38. The restraining strips 30overlap across the face of a load and are folded and drawn tightlytogether by a torque tool. Then an independent overlying patch segment40 is applied to the junction to unite the opposing restraining strips30 extending from the container side walls to secure the cargo to theinterior wall surfaces of the intermodal container 20.

FIG. 3 discloses a view of an individual load restraining strip 30 thatis shown being applied to a side wall surface 32 of an intermodalcontainer 20. In this, FIG. 3 shows an individual load restraining strip30 cut from a dispensing roll 42 and then applied to the side wall 32 ofthe intermodal container 20. As taught in the related patents listedabove an installer first pulls a release paper off of an end of thestrip and positions the strip 30 by hand onto the side wall surface 32of the container. Then a rolling tool 44, or similar device, is used tofirmly engage an adhesive portion of the strip 30 firmly against theside wall surface 32 of the intermodal container.

Load Restraining Strips

Turning to FIGS. 4-6 more detailed views of the restraining strip 30 aredisclosed. The load restraining strip 30 comprises a first cover layerof material 50 having a first side surface 52 and a second side surface54 extending coextensively with the flexible load restraining strip 30from a first end 56 to a second end 58 of the flexible load restrainingstrip 30. This first layer of material may be a spun bonded polyester orother material suitable to function as a cover and support for a layerof reinforcement to be discussed below.

A first layer of adhesive 60 coextensively extends along and coats thesecond side surface 54 of the first cover layer of material 50 of theflexible strip from the first end 56 to the second end 58 of the firstcover layer 50. The first layer of adhesive 60 has a first side surface62 and a second side surface 64. The first side surface 62 is inadhesive engagement with the second side surface 54 of the first coverlayer of material 50.

The flexible load restraining strip 30 further includes a layer ofreinforcement 66 having a first side 68 and a second side 70. Thereinforcement 66 is bound on the first side 68 to the second sidesurface 64 of the first layer of adhesive 60. The layer of reinforcement66 comprises a plurality of substantially parallel bundles or ends 72 offilaments extending throughout the length of the flexible loadrestraining strip 30. The ends 72 are schematically shown in FIG. 6within an imaginary generally elliptical encasement. In practice thereis no separate or distinctive encasement isolating one end 72 from anext adjacent end, however, the ends tend to stay together as a bundleof filaments.

A second layer of adhesive 74 is applied to the flexible loadrestraining strip 30. The second layer of adhesive includes a first sidesurface 76 and a second side surface 78. The second layer of adhesive 74extends along and partially coats the second side 70 of the layer ofreinforcement 66 from the first end 56 of the load restraining strip 30to a position less than or approximately equal to five feet from thefirst end 56 of the flexible load restraining strip as shown in FIGS. 4and 5 where the second layer of adhesive 74 extends along the flexibleload restraining strip 30 to as imaginary line A-A.

The second layer of adhesive layer 74 may include a substrate 80. In theevent a substrate is necessary or desirable it is embedded within thesecond layer of adhesive 74 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6. The substrate 80but may be composed of an acrylic sheet having a plurality of transverseholes or a resin differential polymer with holes to render the substrateporous, or VALERON® which may be fashioned in the form of a screenfoundation. Companies such as DuPont, Hoeschst Celanese, and othersmanufacture such materials. Alternatively, the substrate 80 may not beporous and comprise a sheet of Mylar®. Mylar is a strong polyester filmmanufactured by DuPont Teijin Films.

Finally, a layer of release material 82 such as a waxed paper stockextends coextensively with and is releasably adhered to the second sidesurface 78 of the second layer of adhesive 74. The layer of releasematerial enables the flexible load restraining strips to be produced ina roll form (note again FIGS. 3-5) and is operably removed from thesecond layer of adhesive 74 on site. The load restraining strip 30 isthen releasably affixed to a side wall surface of a cargo transportcontainer by pressing the second layer of adhesive 74 against aninternal wall surface 32 of a transport container as discussed above.

In one embodiment the strips 30 are transversely perforated, atapproximately twelve foot lengths, so that a strip 30 can be torn off ofa roll 42 on site. Alternatively one side of the strip 30 can be markedin twelve foot lengths so that the load restraining strip can befacially cut from the roll 42, as shown in FIG. 3, to create a singlestrip 30 approximately twelve foot long for use on a job site.Preferably, the restraining strip 30 is approximately sixteen inches inwidth; however, other widths may be substituted depending on the needfor additional strength and adhesion on the side wall surface 32.

The adhesives 60 and 74 are composed of an acrylic that exhibits thecharacteristics of high tack and high shear strength and bonds well tometals. In addition the adhesive must have excellent high temperatureand cold temperature characteristics so that the intermodal containercan be shipped in all normal ambient operating conditions. Finally theadhesive should have low peel strength characteristics. When thecontainer is unloaded the load restraining strips 30 may be facilelyremoved by being reverse peeled away from the side wall surfaces 32 ofthe container by hand without leaving a residue. Adhesives of the typesuitable for use in intermodal containers are available from the VentureTape Company of Rockland, Mass.

Reinforcement Layer Construction

Turning now to FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 individual bundles or ends 70 of thelayer of reinforcement material 66 is shown in more detail. Each of theends 70 may be generally circular in cross section as shown in FIG. 7 ormore elongated and generally elliptical as shown in FIG. 8. In eitherconfiguration the ends are illustrated with an imaginary circumferentialenclosure 90 that generally defines an outer boundary for each end.

The ends 70 are distributed approximately evenly across the width of theflexible load restraining strip 30 and for a width of flexible loadrestraining strip 30 of approximately sixteen inches, in one operativeembodiment, the number of ends 70 will be approximately three hundredand twenty four (324) spread evenly across the width of the flexibleload restraining strip 30.

It has been determined by analysis and conducting trial and error impacttesting using restraining lashing that for a properly functioningrestraining strip or lashing 30 of approximately three hundred andtwenty four (324) ends of reinforcement, each end should be composed ofa plurality of individual filaments 92 which extend in a generallyconsistent and uniform pattern at each end.

It has been determined that the number of filaments 92 for each end 70should be between approximately three hundred and twenty one (321) andfour hundred and seventeen (417) filaments per end 70 of reinforcingmaterial. A presently preferred number of filaments is three hundred andsixty nine (369) although a lesser number of filaments down toapproximately three hundred and twenty one (321) per ends can be used.

Referring now to FIGS. 9 and 10 each of the filaments 92 noted in theparagraph above is preferably composed of three (3) monofilament strands94 of a fine denier per strand. It has been determined for a preferredembodiment of the invention that a strand of approximately 1500 denierpolyester performs well and each strand has a break strength ofapproximately eight (8) grams.

As noted above and shown particularly in FIGS. 9 and 10 each of themonofilament strands 94 may be composed of fine polyester fibers.Alternatively other fine denier fibers may be used such as apolypropylene, polyethylene, polyolefin, glass fiber, an aramid such asKevlar®, carbon fibers, and the like. Kevlar® is a polyamide in whichall the amide groups are separated by para-phenylene groups. Kevlar® isa registered trademark of the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Del.Regardless of the monofilament used and the number of monofilaments usedthe resulting filament composed of one or more monofilaments should havea break strength of approximately twenty four (24) grams.

In the subject application, and in the claims, the term ‘transportcontainer” is used in a generic sense for all forms of transport unitsthat are capable of containing cargo. A transport container unitincludes but is not limited to intermodal containers, air transportcontainers, railway cars—such as box cars, truck trailers, and the likehaving undulating or smooth side wall surfaces.

In the specification and claims the expression “approximately” as itappears in connection with a specific numerical value means and includesplus of minus seven and one half (7.5) percent of the numerical valueexpressed.

In this application the term “denier” is used as a measure of thefineness of a monofilament. One “denier” is defined in this applicationas the mass, in grams, of nine thousand (9,000) meters of themonofilament. For example a polyester filament, nine thousand meters inlength weighing 1500 grams is called a 1500 denier polyestermonofilament.

In describing the invention, reference has been made to preferredembodiments. Those skilled in the art, however, and familiar with thedisclosure of the subject invention, may recognize additions, deletions,modifications, substitutions, and/or other changes which will fallwithin the purview of the invention as defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A flexible load restraining strip for use insecuring cargo within a transport container subject to shifting forcesduring transport said flexible load restraining strip having a first endand a second end and said flexible load restraint strip comprising: afirst cover layer of material having a first side surface and a secondside surface and extending coextensively with said flexible loadrestraining strip from the first end to the second end of said flexibleload restraining strip; a first layer of adhesive coextensivelyextending along and coating said second side surface of said first coverlayer of material of said flexible load restraining strip from a firstend to a second end of said first cover layer of material, said firstlayer of adhesive having a first side surface and a second side surfaceand said first side surface of said first layer of adhesive being inadhesive engagement with said second side surface of said first coverlayer of material; a layer of reinforcement having a first side and asecond side and being bonded on said first side to said second sidesurface of said first layer of adhesive, said layer of reinforcementcomprising a plurality of substantially parallel bundles of filamentsextending throughout a length of said flexible load restraining stripwherein, said layer of reinforcement comprises approximately threehundred and twenty four ends of reinforcement filament material, eachend of reinforcement filament material comprises approximately threehundred and twenty one to four hundred and seventeen filaments ofreinforcement material, and each filament of reinforcement materialcomprises one or more monofilament strands having a total break strengthof approximately twenty four grams per filament; a second layer ofadhesive having a first side surface and a second side surface andextending along and partially coating said second side of said layer ofreinforcement from said first end of said load restraining strip to aposition along said flexible load restraining strip of less than orapproximately equal to five feet toward said second end of said flexibleload restraining strip; and a layer of release material extendingcoextensively with and releasably adhered to said second side surface ofsaid second layer of adhesive applied to said second side of said layerof reinforcement, wherein said layer of release material may be removedfrom said second layer of adhesive on site of use and said loadrestraining strip releasably affixed to a side wall surface of a cargotransport container such that said load restraining strip may be used asa flexible securement element to secure cargo within a transportcontainer with enhanced filament efficiency characteristics of saidlayer of reinforcement.
 2. A flexible load restraining strip for use insecuring cargo within a transport container as defined in claim 1wherein each of said ends of reinforcement comprises: approximatelythree hundred and twenty one filaments of reinforcement material.
 3. Aflexible load restraining strip for use in securing cargo within atransport container as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said ends ofreinforcement comprises: approximately three hundred and sixty ninefilaments of reinforcement material.
 4. A flexible load restrainingstrip for use in securing cargo within a transport container as definedin claim 1 wherein each of said ends of reinforcement comprises:approximately four hundred and seventeen filaments of reinforcementmaterial.
 5. A flexible load restraining strip for use in securing cargowithin a transport container as defined in claim 1 wherein eachmonofilament strand of reinforcement material comprises: a glass fibermaterial.
 6. A flexible load restraining strip for use in securing cargowithin a transport container as defined in claim 1 wherein eachmonofilament strand of reinforcement material comprises: a carbon fibermaterial.
 7. A flexible load restraining strip for use in securing cargowithin a transport container as defined in claim 1 wherein eachmonofilament strand of reinforcement material comprises: a polypropylenematerial.
 8. A flexible load restraining strip for use in securing cargowithin a transport container as defined in claim 1 wherein eachmonofilament strand of reinforcement material comprises: a polyethylenematerial.
 9. A flexible load restraining strip for use in securing cargowithin a transport container as defined in claim 1 wherein eachmonofilament strand of reinforcement material comprises: a polyolefinmaterial.
 10. A flexible load restraining strip for use in securingcargo within a transport container as defined in claim 1 wherein eachmonofilament strand of reinforcement material comprises: a polyamidematerial.
 11. A flexible load restraining strip for use in securingcargo within a transport container subject to shifting forces duringtransport said flexible load restraining strip having a first end and asecond end and said flexible load restraint strip comprising: a firstcover layer of material having a first side surface and a second sidesurface and extending coextensively with said flexible load restrainingstrip from the first end to the second end of said flexible loadrestraining strip; a first layer of adhesive coextensively extendingalong and coating said second side surface of said first cover layer ofmaterial of said flexible load restraining strip from a first end to asecond end of said first cover layer of material, said first layer ofadhesive having a first side surface and a second side surface and saidfirst side surface of said first layer of adhesive being in adhesiveengagement with said second side surface of said first cover layer ofmaterial; a layer of reinforcement having a first side and a second sideand being bonded on said first side to said second side surface of saidfirst layer of adhesive, said layer of reinforcement comprising aplurality of substantially parallel bundles of filaments extendingthroughout a length of said flexible load restraining strip wherein,said layer of reinforcement comprises approximately three hundred andtwenty four ends of reinforcement filament material, each end ofreinforcement filament material comprises approximately three hundredand twenty one to four hundred and seventeen filaments of reinforcementmaterial, and each filament of reinforcement material comprises threemonofilament strands of approximately 1500 denier polyester material; asecond layer of adhesive having a first side surface and a second sidesurface and extending along and partially coating said second side ofsaid layer of reinforcement from said first end of said load restrainingstrip to a position along said flexible load restraining strip of lessthan or approximately equal to five feet toward said second end of saidflexible load restraining strip; and a layer of release materialextending coextensively with and releasably adhered to said second sidesurface of said second layer of adhesive applied to said second side ofsaid layer of reinforcement, wherein said layer of release material maybe removed from said second layer of adhesive on site of use and saidload restraining strip releasably affixed to a side wall surface of acargo transport container such that said load restraining strip may beused as a flexible securement element to secure cargo within a transportcontainer with enhanced filament efficiency characteristics of saidlayer of reinforcement.
 12. A flexible load restraining strip for use insecuring cargo within a transport container as defined in claim 11wherein each of said ends of reinforcement comprises: approximatelythree hundred and twenty one filaments of reinforcement material.
 13. Aflexible load restraining strip for use in securing cargo within atransport container as defined in claim 11 wherein each of said ends ofreinforcement comprises: approximately three hundred and sixty ninefilaments of reinforcement material.
 14. A flexible load restrainingstrip for use in securing cargo within a transport container as definedin claim 11 wherein each of said ends of reinforcement materialcomprises: approximately four hundred and seventeen filaments ofreinforcement material.